Snowden was interviewed in Moscow
over two days by Post reporter Barton Gellman, who has received numerous leaks
from the former NSA contractor. The interview was conducted six months after Snowden's revelations first appeared in the
Post and Britain's Guardian newspaper.

Gellman described Snowden as relaxed and animated over two days of nearly
unbroken conversation, fueled by burgers, pasta, ice cream and Russian pastry.

"As soon as the journalists were able
to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated," Snowden told the Post. "Because,
remember, I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to
determine if it should change itself.

“All I wanted was for
the public to be able to have a say in how they are governed. That is a
milestone we left a long time ago. Right now, all we are looking at are stretch
goals.”

Gellman describes Snowden
as "an orderly thinker, with an engineer’s approach to problem-solving. He
had come to believe a dangerous machine of mass surveillance was growing
unchecked. Closed-door oversight in Congress and the Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Court was a 'graveyard of judgment,' he said, manipulated by the
agency it was supposed to supervise. Classification rules erected walls to
prevent public debate."

In June, the Justice Department unsealed a
criminal complaint charging Snowden
with espionage and felony theft of government property. Russia granted him
temporary asylum five months ago.

The effects of Snowden's
revelations have been evident in the courts, Congress, Silicon Valley and
capitals around the world, where even U.S. allies have reacted angrily to
reports of U.S. monitoring of their leaders' cellphone calls. Brazil and
members of the European Union are considering ways to better protect their data
and U.S. technology companies such as Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are looking
at ways to block the collection of data by the government.

Snowden, now 30, said he is not
being disloyal to the U.S. or to his former employer.

"I am not trying to bring down the NSA,
I am working to improve the NSA," he said. "I am still working for
the NSA right now. They are the only ones who don't realize it."

The White House did not immediately respond
to a request for comment about the Snowden
interview.

Asked about the Snowden
interview, White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said, "Mr. Snowden faces felony charges here in the United
States and should be returned to the U.S. as soon as possible, where he will be
afforded due process and all the protections of our criminal justice
system."